Not a barbarian warrior.

Although Eugene had controlled his strength, the hit had clearly landed properly. For a normal person, it would have been impossible to get up immediately from that spot. In that moment, alarm bells rang wildly in Eugene’s head.

He suddenly put a lot of force into the mace he was holding. It was the moment when a blunt weapon for subduing people transformed into a weapon for killing.

Whoosh-

Eugene pulled his foot back while twisting his waist. The sound of cutting through the air echoed from the mace as it drew a large semicircle. The round weight at its end finally struck the guy’s head.

Thwack!

Along with the sound of the skull bursting, the sensation of the skull inside shattering was transmitted through his hand. The guy’s neck bent greatly and his eyes rolled back. Spewing blood from his nose and mouth, he fell backwards once again.

“Huk… Huk…”

Eugene exhaled roughly. A sense of guilt for brutally beating a person to death crept up, but now was not the time to be caught up in such emotions. Eugene shook his head and quickly said:

“The children’s condition is not good. We need to get out of here quickly. Both of you come here and carry one child each.”

Emir and the informant hurriedly moved. At that moment, an ice-cold hand grabbed Emir’s ankle.

“Huk! What the-!”

Emir’s body collapsed. With a crack! sound of his ankle breaking, he let out a painful scream.

“Argh!”

“Eek…!”

While the informant fled behind Eugene’s back, Emir struggled in terror.

“L-Let go! You monster! Uwaaa…!!”

He screamed and trembled. In an instant, his entire body turned pale and bluish veins stood out on his skin, while his eyes became dull. Even the vitality in his scream gradually faded.

“Huuuh….”

Emir’s moan was as faint as a dead man’s breath. Soon after, his body shriveled up like a withered old tree, and then his breathing stopped. It all happened in an instant.

The guy whose head had been shattered stood up looking perfectly fine. He turned his strangely bent neck back into place with his own hands. Blood flowed down below his lips, but he spoke calmly:

“You, the one with the mace. Why are you interfering with me? Are you perhaps from the church? You don’t look like an inquisitor though.”

“…”

Eugene just glared at the guy silently. Meanwhile, the informant looked back and forth between the two with a terrified expression and carefully asked Eugene:

“My lord? Wh-What the hell is that bastard? Emir seems to be dead…”

“…A demon worshipper.”

“A demon worshipper, you say…?”

Eugene recalled what Lorena had said before.

Su-Such evil magic that controls souls is something only de-demon worshippers would re-research… Is Eu-Eugene perhaps wo-worshipping demons…

Black magicians, heretics, apostates, devil worshippers, demon worshippers. Those called by various other names. Only they could handle life and souls in such evil ways.

The worshipper picked up the torch that had fallen at his feet with an emotionless face. Meanwhile, Eugene quietly whispered to the informant behind him:

“We’ll escape from here with the children. Move when I give the signal.”

It wasn’t right to face such a guy without any information or preparation. In a situation where it was unknown how dangerous he was or how he would attack, running away was the best option.

At the mention of escaping, the informant spoke with a face that seemed to have made a grave resolution:

“I’ll take care of one. My lord, since you have good stamina, please take care of the other two.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll go in front. Just follow me.”

The two who had made a plan to escape like this looked at the guy. The moment the guy hung the torch on a nearby pillar, Eugene said softly:

“…Now.”

As soon as he received the signal, the informant instantly turned around and picked up the child on the far left. Then he ran with all his might towards the narrow passage without looking back.

Eugene quickly tucked the two children under his arms on both sides. And before he could even take a step, a choking scream burst out from the entrance of the passage as the informant fell forward.

“Ugh…!”

“Get up quickly!”

Eugene, who thought he had just tripped and fallen, shouted urgently. But at that moment, a flashing blade flew towards his eyes.

The knife held in a small hand plunged straight towards Eugene’s stomach. Fortunately, the armor worn inside the robe blocked it, but Eugene was startled and lost his grip on the children tucked under his arms.

“No…! Kids!”

Despite the desperate cry, the children who left Eugene’s arms walked straight to where the worshipper was, as if hypnotized. The child in the passage also staggered up, passed by Eugene’s side, and headed towards the worshipper.

Eugene looked at the children’s backs with disbelieving eyes. Soon he gathered his wits and turned his head. He saw the informant collapsed in front of the entrance.

“…Damn it.”

His body was limp on the floor. A small knife was deeply embedded in his neck and red blood flowed down his nape. His chest rose and fell slightly, but he was on the verge of breathing his last.

As Eugene was examining him, the worshipper walked over and said:

“Didn’t I warn you? Don’t touch my goods.”

“You… What have you done to the children?”

Eugene glared at the worshipper. In his eyes, fear and anger were swirling together. The worshipper asked with an expressionless face:

“Are you curious?”

“No…!”

Eugene answered shortly and leapt out from the entrance of the passage. Immediately pushing off the ground, he jumped and swung the mace raised above his head down on the worshipper’s head in a surprise attack.

Crack!

The skull burst and blood, brain matter, and shattered bone fragments flew in all directions. Eugene immediately retreated to keep his distance so as not to be caught by the guy’s hands.

“…”

The worshipper whose head had been smashed stood still with his back straight. Then suddenly he raised his right hand and lightly flicked his finger.

Pop!

The head of the girl behind him burst open. As if it had been hit by something blunt. At the same time, the worshipper’s crushed head returned to its original state.

“…!”

The guy opened his mouth calmly with a normal face.

“You said you weren’t curious, so why did you ask? You made me want to tell you unnecessarily.”

“You…!”

“Look at this.”

The worshipper lifted up the corpse of the child whose head had disappeared with both hands and showed it to Eugene.

“If you hadn’t just burst my face, this child would have been alive… How does it feel to have killed a child with your own hands?”

“…”

Eugene didn’t answer. He just looked at the headless child with a pale face. Bright red blood flowed down from below the child’s neck.

“God is truly merciless. We pray so earnestly not to be led into temptation, but look how blatantly trials come upon us.”

The guy who had been expressionless all along raised the corners of his mouth. He was smiling as if this situation was enjoyable.

“Poor Laura. I shall put your remaining flesh to good use.”

“What did you just say…!”

Eugene’s shout was drowned out by the bizarre sound coming from the child’s body. With a horrible resonance of bones breaking and muscles and organs being crushed, the child’s flesh was sucked into the worshipper’s hands.

The guy’s body began to swell grotesquely. As his robe tore, new arms sprouted one after another from his back, and pus flowed down over his skin stained dark red. The swollen muscles and twisted body were no longer human. This was a monster in the form of an evil god.

“Shit…”

Eugene thought. He shouldn’t fight like this. Killing the guy would only result in innocent children dying instead. He had to run away first. If no further battle took place, the guy would surely leave with the remaining children.

Just as Eugene was about to turn his back and flee, a split voice flowed from the monster’s mouth.

“Are you running away? Then I can’t help it. But know one thing. The moment you leave this place, these children will die in the most painful way in the world.”

At those words, Eugene stopped abruptly.

“Run away. And tremble in your bed every night imagining. Think about what kind of screams these children will make after you leave, what the pain of the children you turned your back on will be like, and suffer.”

The monster picked up one of the children behind him. He wrapped the body and head with two large hands that had sprouted from his back. The guy was planning to twist the child like wringing out a rag.

At that moment, Eugene realized.

That this cruel world would never leave him alone to live as Kim Woo-jin.

The time he had endured and persevered through pain became meaningless in an instant. He couldn’t save the children.

The children’s death was a predetermined ending from the beginning. All Eugene could do was ensure that the children died without suffering.

Eugene cursed. This world, fate, and his own weakness that couldn’t do anything about even this one monster.

“You son of a bitch-!”

A scream-like shout rang out. It contained fear, guilt, sadness, despair, and fierce anger that burned all of those.

The monster smiled wickedly and put the child down again. He looked at Eugene with cruel and greedy eyes.

“Pay the price for interfering with my work. Despair. Regret. Offer your body. Become my sacrifice.”

“Shut up-!”

Eugene unleashed the ring of mana rotating in his heart. Blue-tinged blood flowed into his organs, bones, and muscles, instantly exploding the latent power.

As Eugene kicked off the ground, his body flew like an arrow towards the monster.

“Die!”

The monster was slow to respond to Eugene’s unexpected movement. Eugene’s mace crushing the skull was faster than the guy raising his hand. Blood-soaked flesh flew in all directions, and brain matter leaked out from inside.

The monster immediately flicked his finger. Then the head of the child he had put down burst, and at the same time, the monster’s head returned to normal.

At that horrific sight, Eugene’s eyes shook greatly for a moment. Taking advantage of the moment when his movement froze briefly, the guy grabbed Eugene’s body. The huge hand gripped his body as tightly as steel.

Crunch-!

As his entire body was compressed, his bones and muscles screamed. His chest was so pressed that it was difficult to even breathe, and his vision gradually turned black and white. The feeling of even vitality draining away. But he didn’t care. Eugene ignored all the pain he felt.

“Kuuu…! Uwaaa!”

Shouting a beast-like roar and struggling desperately, he somehow managed to pull out the arm holding the mace.

“Die!”

In that state, Eugene swung the mace down towards the monster’s head once again.

Crack!

The familiar scene repeated once more. The monster’s head burst, his finger flicked, and the head of the last remaining child also burst horribly. And as if nothing had happened, the monster’s head was instantly restored.

Only one thing had changed. Fear appeared on the face of the guy who had become a monster. As the spare lives instantly evaporated, the guy hurriedly opened his mouth.

“W-Wait…! How, no!”

A scream burst from the guy’s mouth. But Eugene had already escaped from his grasp and was swinging the mace again.

“Die!”

The monster’s skull burst once more.

Thwack-!

The head that burst like that no longer regenerated.

But Eugene didn’t stop. He kept striking the monster’s head incessantly. Blood gushed like a fountain, dyeing his entire body red. Even as flesh was torn off and bone fragments flew in all directions, Eugene didn’t stop his hand.

Thwack! Thud…! Thwack…! Thud… Thud….

The monster’s head, which had burst, torn, and shattered, was already unrecognizable. Eugene kept repeating the same words.

“Die…! Die…! Die!”

His blood-soaked cry was rough and dry. Even though he was the only living thing breathing in this sewer, he kept shouting for it to die.

“Die… Die…”

The sounds of blood and flesh spreading echoed together.

But as time passed, even that echo gradually faded.

All that remained in the cold darkness was the slight trembling of the hand holding the mace and a quiet stillness.